Staying in the year around 1500, another family which dominated the events in history was the Borgias. In a book about the Borgias written by Clemente Fusero, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1972,  the Borgia family was originally from Spain and one of the ambitious sons moved up the leadership levels of the Catholic Church to eventually become Pope. In the 1500’s, being Pope was different than it is today.

When the father became the Pope he was in his 60’s and his trusted advisors were his children. The dad had the ambition, knew how the structure worked, over the years had a variety of enemies and was very good at strategic planning. His sons were the muscle, cunning, liked battles and torture. They also followed Dad’s orders and for that action, they were protected and rewarded. When the Pope died, the abilities of the father soon lead to the downfall of the family, for the remaining son had either learned little as he constantly made bad decisions.

Linking to dividend providing stocks, no one person runs a company. The founder had the vision, the dream, and the company achieved market share, but there were others who had skills that enhanced the founder. It is the reason, why who the others are is always important to look at. The President has the final stay in terms of strategy, as long as money is made at the expected return, the President will have a long career. The President is helped by people who feel they could run the company, and the President has to do the great balancing act, which is the reason why successions at companies often do not work well. It is possible to read the biographies of the executive team, but it is more important to research how well they really work together. Often times, bad events bring out the real personalities.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions

Staying in the year around 1500, another family which dominated the events in history was the Borgias. In a book about the Borgias written by Clemente Fusero, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1972,  the Borgia family was originally from Spain and one of the ambitious sons moved up the leadership levels of the Catholic Church to eventually become Pope. In the 1500’s, being Pope was different than it is today.

Back then many Pope had children and families prior to being Pope, now days the Pope is single. In the days of the Borgias, having children and many nieces and nephews was important to consolidate your power. In the feudal system which existed, the armies of the Kings of the country would battle for control of lands and money from the lands. In the case of Italy, the country was divided into a number of states and the leaders would shift who they favoured from time to time. When the alignments changed, to protect themselves or at least give the sense of protection, a daughter, son, niece or nephew was married off to another leader’s sons or daughter. It was hoped that the marriage which was arranged and considered suitable would result in a long term relationship. If all went well, the children grew to love each other, had many children and were good administrators. The children prior to getting married had likely not met one another.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the Pope was trying to create dividends through a peaceful or relatively peaceful time. It is easier to buy stocks or create financial stability with existing dividend paying stocks. The long term outlook will the companies which have been adaptable in the past will be adaptable in the future, for now they have enough market share to ensure continued dividends.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions

Staying in the year around 1500, another family which dominated the events in history was the Borgias. In a book about the Borgias written by Clemente Fusero, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1972,  the family was originally from Spain and one of the ambitious sons moved up the leadership levels of the Catholic Church to eventually become Pope. In the 1500’s, being Pope was different than it is today. The world was essentially a feudal  society which means countries were divided into estates and the owner would receive money from all the people who lived in the estate. The owner represented the people in parliament (government) and administered the lands both in terms of infrastructure and to settle disputes. In the Catholic Church at that time, the cardinals and others would receive a share from their assigned districts. The cardinals were wealthy, particularly if their country’s dominate religion was catholic, which at this time it was. Rodrigo was one of the cardinals who wanted to become Pope. How a person becomes Pope is to be elected by other cardinals. The cardinals are put in a room, the door is locked and they are told to make a decision before the door is unlocked. Often times two names become to the forefront, if the people are essentially tied, a compromise candidate is chosen. The prime reason for picking the person is their age and the expectation the person would die soon. If the death was taking too long, poison helped the result. In the meantime, the two names at the forefront can do things which the other side could support. The election of a Pope meant when someone did become Pope, they had better have a very good idea of what they want to get done.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, if the above case with Rodrigo Borgia, the fact he wanted to be Pope meant time was important. It took time and age to become Pope, it was very rare to pick a younger person. Similar in investing, it takes time to accumulate money, but once you have regular dividend payments, along with capital gains the financial rewards will be advantageous. The best friend an investor can have is compound interest or using the affects of compound interest. If you can go about your daily life, and only use the interest or dividend component of your investments, every year your assets will grow.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions

The Medici were once the most powerful family in Italy, the family ran a bank and one of its biggest clients was the Pope. In addition, the family helped sponsor and encourage the Italian Renaissance particularly around the city of their hometown – Florence. In the book The Medici – Godfathers of the Renaissance written by Paul Strathern, Vintage Books, London, 2007, the Medici were the dominant financial and political family in Florence.

In the book, the author went through 300 years of the Medici family – a family that started in banking, used the connection to run Florence Italy and produce a number of sons and grandsons and great grandsons. The sons in the fragile time of Italian politics helped keep the peace as well as encourage and commission artists such as Leonard de Vinci, Michelangelo  Donatello and a host of others. The grandsons became Pope of the Catholic Church (Clement VII and Leo X) and eventually the family married royalty –  Catherine  and Maria were Queen of France) who introduced Italian cooking to France which made French cooking better. Some of the arts programs the French love were introduced and supported by the Italians. Along the way ensuring a heir was on their minds. The good thing about a heir is the bloodlines remain, the bad thing is just because of their bloodlines, it does not mean the person has great administrative abilities or have leadership skills. Some of the heirs did not, but were thrust into the positions anyways which lead to decreasing revenues. It is always easier to spend someone else’s money, than to increase the wealth of the state.

Linking to dividend paying stocks particularly in companies where their is a dominant shareholder many families wish to appoint the sons and grandsons to leadership roles. Not all children are worthy or responsible for leadership roles. Sometimes the company suffers because the heir is not worthy although the family hopes the person grows into their role. When the company is private it does not matter, when the company is public it is important to ensure those that have power are responsible. When the AGM happens vote well.

There are more questions than answers till the next time – to raising questions

The Medici were once the most powerful family in Italy, the family ran a bank and one of its biggest clients was the Pope. In addition, the family helped sponsor and encourage the Italian Renaissance particularly around the city of their hometown – Florence. In the book The Medici – Godfathers of the Renaissance written by Paul Strathern, Vintage Books, London, 2007, the Medici were the dominant financial and political family in Florence.

In many communities, a group of families tend to dominate the political arena and conversely the financial sector. This is both good and bad, but it can be great if the right leader emerges and brings stability to the region. In the Medici times when families disagreed, were jealous, or had grand ambition,  the families often had private armies which lead to someone dying. Plots are hatch, the people back one group or another, people flee, come back and life goes on. Politics really was a blood sport. Thankfully, we now talk about it, not very often kill people. In the Medici times, the political aspirations is interesting reading.

Linking to dividend producing stocks, the head of the company have the ability to add to the wealth of the shareholders and can do so much more if desired. There has been a variety of Presidents who feel only the financial results are important; there are others who do both. The important aspect is the balance and where in the strategic plan it fits in for the President and the Company.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

The Medici were once the most powerful family in Italy, the family ran a bank and one of its biggest clients was the Pope. In addition, the family helped sponsor and encourage the Italian Renaissance particularly around the city of their hometown – Florence. Besides being leading bankers, two members of the family became pope and one married the King of France. No doubt there are many myths around the Medici family.

One question is why did the Italian Renaissance start and flourish in Florence as opposed to the other Italian cities of Rome, Milan, Naples or Venice? In the book The Medici – Godfathers of the Renaissance, written by Paul Strathern, Vintage Books, London, 2007 part of the reason is the method the city states were ruled. Naples and Milan were subject to autocratic rulers; Rome was a backyards city subject to the whims of the new pope; Venice was ruled by a stable patriciate. Florence was a quasi-democratic republic and it could be the city because of its governance was open to innovation. Florence also had a long tradition of civic patronage; successful merchants were expected to contribute to the glory of the city,

Innovation can only happen when a host of factors are in play. The city does need wealth or to be prosperous (jobs for its citizens); there does need to be trade with the outside world; and people in the art world need to be paid to produce art. This attracts other artists to work with the existing ones and the cycle continues. Cosimo Medici was a conservative banker, but was also a major benefactor of the arts and the way people see each other.

Linking to dividend paying stocks. the Medici’s were conservative bankers who earned profits which allowed them to contribute to the culture of the city they called home. You will hear various leaders discuss innovation as it can happen tomorrow. The reality is a host of factors must be in play including the ability to allow for disagreement. Often times before innovation can happen new procedures or abilities must be developed. Once developed the avenues are then opened up for more innovation. Similar to the silicon chip becoming better each time which allows for your smart phone to have the abilities of your desktop computer and each time the possibilities grow. When you vote for management, ensure besides making profits to pay the dividends, their style of management allows for the company to continually improve.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions

The Agent is written by Leigh Steinberg, St. Martin’s Press, New York, and Mr. Steinberg is one of the top sports agents in the business. He got his start representing a friend Steve Bartkowski of Atlanta Falcons. From the modest start of one client his agency grew and developed to be represented by the movie with Tome Cruise called Jerry Maguire had a lot of Mr. Steinberg in it. Anyone looking at sports salaries now days can see that representing an athlete is a very lucrative business. But it has not always the case, salaries were much lower and so were TV contracts. Over the years the pie has gotten bigger and everyone can have a slice. As Mr. Steinberg relates the secret to being successful is representing the potential superstars of the industry, if you represent them, others will check you out. Mr. Steinberg believed and believes the athlete should have a sound foundation, care about his community ( part of the salary go to a start a foundation dealing with whatever the athlete cares about) and think about life after sports. There are very few 40 year old athletes in professional sports.

In the book The Agent, Mr. Steinberg talks about some the of the big names in professional sports as well as the owners. Which owners he liked dealing and why, as The Agent is in the middle. He wants to help the team, but have his client be paid at a premium number. The owner prior to the large TV contracts had only limited money to work with, perhaps owning the team was a secondary aspect to their lives. As owners of the team, one of the many perks is inviting people to your box to watch the game while you lobby them for something that will help your bottom line. To be an agent there is a lot of travelling involved – many frequent fling points will be received.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, similar to the agent, the company may start off with a big client, but that does not sustain only going expenses. The best agents are the ones very well prepared to be able to talk to owners and GMs in order to gain the type of contact the athlete demands. The agent will be interested in all aspects of the game, and get to know people in all the sports arenas, as well they need to relate and talk to the athlete and their support networks. Reputations take a long time to build but a short time to destroy. They must know the rules and expect the competition to badmouth them. Unless the company represents hundreds of people, there is little direct public investment in sport agencies, but the stories are interesting to sports fans.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions

The memoir by Paul Allen titled Paul Allen Idea Man, Penguin, 2011 is a the very interesting life Mr. Allen has since cofounding Microsoft. After Mr. Allen left day to day responsibilities what was he to do with his life and money? Fortunately for Mr. Allen he has been interested in many subjects or considers himself a generalist, but he has his passions. One passion is basketball and he wanted to be an NBA owner. That is great when the team wins, no so great when the team loses. The problems of ticket sales, arena and competing as well as being a fan come forth. Being wealthy lead to becoming an owner of the NFL Football team, the team was for sale and unless somebody bought it, the team would be moved. Mr. Allen bought it and the Seahawks are a very successful franchise. As a fan, you may know about the noise in the stadium, there are 11 players on the field and the hometown fans are the 12th man. The Seahawks fans are loud, passionate and community minded, for example, the 12th man has a flag and when Seattle makes the playoffs many flags are to be seen. The Seahawks planted the 12th Man flag on top of Mount Rainer as people raise money for the United Way.

The passion for sports plus asking what kind of content would people want most from a broadband network lead to Starwave now known as ESPN.com. One of the interesting story was when were people accessing the service? Turns out not at home, but at work – Monday mornings, noon (lunch hour) and before they went home. Those numbers change because of smart phones and tablets at home, because many people did not have computers at home, but they used them for work.

Mr. Allen has a passion for music and besides a concert hall at the University of Washington, he also created the EMP or Experience Music Project in Seattle. In order to be sustainable, besides having a wealthy backer, people must come and visit  which leads to programming which leads to other activities.

Not everything Mr. Allen invested in made money, he invested in Charter Communications in order to bring a broadband network to the major cities, except for Charter was not in the major cities, ending up losing a lot of money and needed to go through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Part of the problem was the competition is very tough and it was underestimated; another problem was the solutions being offered were ahead of times, not many people were buying into the future. At the present time your TV can act as your home computer and there is a number of people who want to do both at the same time. In 2000 there were very few. As time went on the solutions being offered are accepted and become normal but there is a lag time.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when a company is performing on a consistent basis earning profits, the new people will not be as passionate as the founder. The founder lived and died the company, the new people were hired to do a good job, but there maybe some passion missing. It is important to see that the management lives and dies the company and are passionate about it and its effects on the economy. How does it do the extra mile when conditions change? a flood happens? the lights go out? how does it turn the lights on again? What passions drives the company?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

The memoir by Paul Allen titled Paul Allen Idea Man, Penguin, 2011 is a the very interesting story of Mr. Allen has since cofounding Microsoft. The other cofounder Bill Gates is one of the richest men in the world, Mr. Allen is worth in the billions. From a relatively middle income upbringing to a very rich person makes an interesting story in relationship to what he does with the wealth once obtained? In Mr. Allen’s case he was and is fascinated by how things work, coding and what can the future look like. With idea people, many of their ideas are a little before there is a market or the ability to make money is found. Mr. Allen earlier in his life discovered coding and loved it, and when the first desktop computers were coming out, he and Bill Gates programed the language the computer uses to do what many of us want it to do. Basic eventually became MS Dos and most computers use the Microsoft language to run the computers. Mr. Gates owned 66% and Mr. Allen owned the other. They believed the software was more important than the hardware, while most early day companies believed the hardware was more important. After a number of years, running Basic, as computers became important in the work place, IBM entered the field but they were interested in hardware, thus they licenced Basic and MS-DOS which lead to the incredible growth of Microsoft.

In the book, Mr. Allen was thinking about the future and what could be. As the parts and the infrastructure began to catch up to what could be, there were many opportunities to be found and expanded upon. At first these were what Microsoft could do, later when Mr. Allen moved to doing his investments – he would invest in some of the ventures. For example, after MS-DOS is running the computer, applications become very important. An example of an application is MS Office which appeals to small and medium sized businesses and then everyone. The goal at the start was to make computers accessible to everyone, but each and everyone person needs to have a reason to have why they need to use it.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in the case of Microsoft, it ended up as the standard program to run microcomputers which lead to explosive earnings and over the years a great amount of wealth creation. As time went by, the company needed to continually to change to keep its share as the uses of computers changed. The internet was not captured by Microsoft, neither was Smart Phones and a host of other uses. Microsoft is still a significant player but companies change quickly in the software industry. The leaders have continually changed as they way we interact and change to who we pay. The software industry has shown great wealth drivers of the economy and it is difficult not to want to put money in the area. One method might be to find out what software the more stable traditional companies use and as they change, change with them.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions